André Bazin (1918-58) is credited with almost single-handedly
establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit.
Bazin can also be considered the principal instigator of the equally
influential auteur theory: the idea that, since film is an art form, the
director of a movie must be perceived as the chief creator of its
unique cinematic style.
Volume 1 of The Catholic Critic: André Bazin on Hollywood Movies,
1945-1958 contains, for the first time in English, much of Bazin’s
penetrating writing on American cinema: on directors such as Billy
Wilder, Frank Capra, Edward Dmytryk, Nicholas Ray, John
Huston, and George Stevens; and on films such as The Great
Dictator, On the Waterfront, Blackboard Jungle, The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit, and Touch of Evil. Volume 1 of André Bazin on
Hollywood Movies, 1945-1958 also features a sizable scholarly
apparatus, including a contextual introduction to Bazin’s life and
work, a Bazin bibliography, credits of the films discussed as well as
filmographies of their directors, and an extensive index.
This collection thus represents a major contribution to the still
growing academic discipline of cinema studies, as well as a
testament to the continuing influence of one of the world’s preeminent
critical thinkers.

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